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Landmark Liquor's new manager has exciting first few days on the job

Sam Benshoof/FOCUS
Bob Dreger has only been on the job as Landmark Liquor's manager for a few days, but with shutdown-related issues he's had his hands full.

It didn't take long for Bob Dreger's job to get interesting.

Just a few days into his new job as manager of Landmark Liquors in Perham, Dreger found himself in the position of having to assuage customers that the store would not, in fact, be pulling MillerCoors products off its shelves.

Various news outlets reported on Wednesday that due to the state government shutdown, MillerCoors, which had not renewed its brand license with the state, would not be allowed to sell its products.

However, Dreger said that after some discussion with MillerCoors sales reps, he's confident that that's not actually the case.

"It's business as usual right now. They (MillerCoors) feel that their card is good until the end of the month," Dreger said. "It's definitely not the pull-off-the-shelves hype you've read in some of the media."

Dreger said a MillerCoors salesman just recently placed a large order for the weekend, and that customers shouldn't expect the products to start disappearing.

"It's been quite a conversation piece with customers," Dreger said. "The phone's been ringing too."

Originally from Alexandria, Dreger came to Perham from Wadena, where he was most recently the manager of Pamida.

Dreger and his wife have been married for 31 years, and have two kids.

He and his family would travel to Perham during weekends for birthday parties at the Perham Area Community Center and for his daughter's volleyball matches, so Dreger said he's pretty familiar with the area.

Dreger is excited about learning more about the liquor business from the store's staff, he said, and about working in the Landmark Liquors facility.

"It's a beautiful facility," he said. "That was one of the first comments I said when I came over here to interview."

Once he gets comfortable and familiar with the store, Dreger plans on communicating with employees and customers to see what the store can do better.

In the meantime, he said, customers should know that the store's doors are open, and products are on the shelves, even MillerCoors.